"musical wind instrument consisting of a leather bag and pipes," late 14c., from bag (n.) + pipe (n.1). Related: Bagpipe. Known to the ancients and originally a favorite instrument in England as well as the Celtic lands. By 1912 English army officers' slang for them was agony bags. Related: Bagpiper (early 14c.).

also blowpipe, 1680s, "instrument to carry a current of air or gas to a flame, jet, etc.;" 1825 as a type of weapon, "blow-gun;" from blow (v.1) + pipe (n.1).

1550s, from German Pfeife "fife, pipe," from Old High German pfifa; the English word is perhaps via French fifre (15c.) from the same Old High German word. Ultimately imitative (see pipe (n.1)). German musicians provided music for most European courts in those days. As a verb from 1590s. Agent noun fifer is recorded earlier (1530s). Fife and drum is from 1670s.

c. 1400, hornepype, musical instrument formerly used in England, with bell and mouthpiece made of horn, from horn (n.) + pipe (n.1). From late 15c. as the name of a lively country-dance (later especially popular with sailors) originally performed to music from such an instrument.

type of bagpipe music consisting of a series of variations on a theme, 1719, from Gaelic piobaireachd, literally "piper's art," from piobair "a piper" (from piob "pipe," an English loan word; see pipe (n.1)) + -achd, suffix denoting function.

the sort of improbable fantasy one has while smoking opium, 1870, from pipe (n.1) in the smoking sense + dream (n.). Old English pipdream meant "piping," from dream in the sense of "music."

also pipefish, fish with a long, tubular snout, by 1769, from pipe (n.1) + fish (n.).

1859, "continuous conduit of pipes chiefly laid underground," from pipe (n.1) + line (n.). Figurative sense of "channel of communication" is from 1921; surfer slang meaning "hollow part of a large wave" is attested by 1963.

"voice," 1580s, from pipe (n.1).

also pipet, "small tube used to withdraw and transfer fluids or gasses from one vessel to another," 1818, from French pipette, originally "tube," diminutive of Old French pipe, from Vulgar Latin *pipa (see pipe (n.1)). In Middle English, pipet is "small musical pipe" (late 15c.; early 14c. as a surname).